Thursday, 5 April 2012

In Germany with David Ryder-Turner

My
former career had a few interesting moments, one of which was in the early
1990s when I arrested a ship, an unusual but venerable process invented in the
days when a visiting sailing ship might run up bills in a foreign port and
forget to pay them. An old friend and mentor who had worked in shipping law for
decades without ever getting the chance to do this was extremely envious, and
became more so when the case was eventually resolved with a judicial sale by
public auction, unheard of in living memory, at least in our jurisdiction. The
whole episode involved time spent in the faculty library studying precedents
and working out how one should nail the writ to a vessel with no masts.
Fortunately all went well and today the ship survives and has acquired some
masts. Not so lucky was a racehorse that I arrested a few years later (I got a
name for the practice) as someone shot him, but that's a story for a horsey
blog rather than a boating one.

My
client in the case introduced me to David Ryder-Turner, who lived a few miles
away but whom I had never met, which in turn led to David designing me the
little yacht Sonas, about which I have already written (Sonas, a Gaelic form of happiness) and whose image is
above. She was built over a couple of years under his legendary artistic and
very critical eye, ensuring a sweetness in the sheerline that I could never
have managed alone.

David
had spent time in post-War Hamburg and wanted to revisit some old haunts, so in
1997 I agreed to share the driving and keep him company on the trip. We managed
to avoid killing each other and had what David would have described as a very
jolly time. This trip and a number of subsequent ones resulted in a number of
lasting friendships and in me a great love not just of the Baltic and Northern
Germany as places but also German language and culture, studies which had not
been encouraged in my childhood.

The
landscape is very different from Scotland's, being all flat, well-cultivated
and prone to fogs and the sailing entirely different, the Baltic being
basically a huge, almost tideless shallow lake, throwing up short steep seas.
Despite this I felt an eerie sense of belonging, as if my ancestors had been
there before me, and maybe they had been, given the long trading links between
Scotland and the Hanseatic towns. The long lost Luebeck Letter was being
written about in the Press at that time.

What
follows is a photo-essay based on some of these visits.

On our
first trip we stopped off at Maldon, where the scene is already much different
from the Scottish West coast. Where I sail we have plenty of deep water, if you
keep an eye out for reefs and skerries.

On
arrival at Laboe we were greeted by the sight of quite a few boats and typical
atmospheric conditions.

David
was attracted to someone nice and blonde on aboard Feolinn.

The
next year we went back and found the weather a bit windier.

Here is Feolinn going like a rocket in about Force Seven

And an Eight Metre doing likewise

That
year and later I sailed aboard the Ylva, built by Gustav Plym in
1930 and a ship that has enjoyed a fascinating life.

Ylva in earlier days

Racing in a Force Eight

On all
of my visits I was struck by the wonderful standard to which the German yachts
had been restored, sadly contrasting with the treatment afforded to a lot of
the so-called windfall yachts, which were often neglected after being
confiscated by the British armed forces.

This is the Abeking & Rasmussen Piraya, probably the loveliest yacht in the harbour, beautifully restored and maintained. And finally a detail of Piraya's bow, showing Henry Rasmussen's trade mark ash rail-capping and his double arrow signature.

The Editor

Followers

A message from the editor

Over the years I've written a lot about nautical matters, mainly for my own amusement. Some of it has been published, but never in any of the mainstream yachting publications, most of which are only interested in articles which promote someone's commercial interest. In fact I have largely given up reading glossy magazines, which mainly seem to recycle tired old stories and have usually given up on any pretensions to accuracy.

This blog started out in 2010 as a place for me to publish my own musings, but I have always been delighted to share the space with anyone who wishes to contribute something on the main themes, the history of yacht and boat design and construction, technical issues, anecdotes and images. This has resulted in my receiving a great deal of material, from historical data to family reminiscences that in most cases would eventually have been lost.

The blog does not accept advertising and is totally non-commercial; the feedback from readers is the only reward.

Contacting me

I am keen that this blog should be available as a place where all sorts of nautical material with a more or less Scottish connection can be published and am happy to post items sent in by others. If you wish to contact me please do so on ewangkennedy@gmail.com